Tuesday, 21 August 2012

Your Life Is An Occasion

Today I watched my favourite film, Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium. It is whimsical and bittersweet and simply magical! I closed my eyes and crossed my fingers and toes and wished that I could work in a magic toy shop, too.
This is my favourite scene from the film (so much so that I even know the words my heart!), a beautiful intersection between the two main characters. One, who is at the end of his life has lived his passion and life to the fullest, and the other at the beginning of her life trying to discover what to do with it.

"When King Lear dies in Act V, do you know what Shakespeare has written? He’s written “He dies.” That’s all, nothing more. No fanfare, no metaphor, no brilliant final words. The culmination of the most influential work of dramatic literature is “He dies.” It takes Shakespeare, a genius, to come up with “He dies.” And yet every time I read those two words, I find myself overwhelmed with dysphoria. And I know it’s only natural to be sad, but not because of the words “He dies.” but because of the life we saw prior to the words.

I’ve lived all five of my acts, Mahoney, and I am not asking you to be happy that I must go. I’m only asking that you turn the page, continue reading… and let the next story begin. And if anyone asks what became of me, you relate my life in all its wonder, and end it with a simple and modest “He died.”"